The Energy Finder
by Field
Summary: Miral Paris has spent her life on a starship. Now she has to use the special abilities she's developed to help everyone out of an alien prison, before her best friend Q2 dies. Little tiny romance thing too. R
1. Miral

Do I really need a disclaimer? I mean this is a "fan-fiction" web site, it's all people who write about characters they've seen before. Well, this is my first one so, here goes:

Paramount owns Star Trek and all things associated with it (i.e., B'Elana, Tom, Miral, the U.S.S. Voyager, the various technologies like replicators and warp engines). I, however, own a laptop and a modem and an independent mind, so these story ideas as well as the new ship and some of its minor characters also belong to me. Oh, can't we all just get along with none of this 'ownership' stuff...up with communism, up with communism (kidding, kidding (although in theory communism is quite nice (kidding))).

Well, are we ready for some fun? Here goes nothing.

* * *

Miral Paris walked onto the lower Engineering floor as the doors slid open in front of her. She squinted against the harsh brilliance of the warp core in front of her and saw her mother standing to the left of it. Even though her mother was captain of this ship, the Euphedes, she still spent a lot of time in Engineering. Right now she was talking with Crewman Grigg so Miral decided to delay their usual mother daughter hug. To her right she spotted the familiar figure of Ensign Hunter, but he had a strange machine on his side. She went over to him to ask him about it.

"Good Night - for it was approximately 02:00 hours - Ensign." said Miral, "What you got on your side?" she teased playfully, jabbing him in the ribs where it sat.

He was clearly blushing, Miral could see the heat rising to his face. "Why, nothing, Miral? What are you talking about?"

"That." She pointed to it

"Umm. Well, I fell on the holodeck with the safeties off." he said rather quietly, "It's under the clothes, Miral."

"Oh." She put her hand on it and realized then that there was a piece of fabric over it.

"Leave it to you." He turned back to his work laughing.

"Yeah." Miral walked away, slightly less jovial than she had been when she first came in.

She was different, and she knew it. Her parents had always told her she was special, but they only realized just how special their girl was when she walked onto the Bridge one day and exclaimed, to the surprise of the others, 'It's too bad that that planet wasn't just a few kilometers down. Now that would be something to see.' She remembered distinctly when they asked her why, and she replied 'Well the forces would be just right. Can't you see it?' None of them could, of course, but she would discover that only after a battery of tests. The Doctor told her parents that their daughter, at the tender age of six, had not developed rods and cones - the light and colour sensitive cells of the eye - had not developed properly. In fact, they had not developed at all. Instead, there was a mass of gel that formed and regenerated on her retina, this was so strange that the Doctor would not give a name to it and so they had simply called it 'Miral's gel'.

The gel was not a bad thing, it did not hinder her sight but enhanced it. She had learned early on that the colour blue gave off slightly less energy than red and she had learned to read using the patterns of light energy that reached her eyes. The world she saw was very different from the one that many others would describe when she asked them. To her, the world was merely a set of light and dark, similar to the image produced by a heat scanner.

She saw the warp core fluoresce slightly in her eyes and quickly went to check its status. It was as she had expected, it was near being a serious problem and with the tap of a button, she corrected the fluxuation that could have torn the ship apart.

Her hands were sweaty and she wiped them on her jeans. She wore jeans and an oversized sweatshirt which made her small frame seem even tinier. She did not wear the standard Starfleet issue uniform, she had never been issued one. She was eighteen, old enough to attend the Academy, but she did not and no one seemed to feel it was necessary. She was a bright girl and had learned all that an academy could ever teach her by the time she was ten and had been running about the ship ever since. Her teachers were some of the best, none other than her own mother for Engineering matters, and thanks to her father, she could pilot a starship with relative ease since she was seven. The Doctor liked to have his goddaughter in sickbay with him all the time and she had soon learned everything he knew, medical or otherwise. Thanks to her Klingon blood and Lieutenant Tuvok's training, she could wrestle, and often win against, people twice her size.

She walked back over to where her mother had been but didn't see her. She looked around for her but concluded that she had gone back to the Bridge and her big, comfy captain's chair. 'Oh darn.' thought Miral, she didn't see her mother that much. But at least she saw her more than her father or grandparents who lived on the surface of Earth. Her grandfather, the great Admiral Paris, was retired but he was currently pulling some strings to grant her an honourary Starfleet certificate, she hoped. Her dad was flying test shuttles and pushing them to their limits every day, she just prayed he wouldn't get hurt.

There was a gel pack that needed replacing in a jeffries tube right by the Bridge, perhaps she could crawl out and see her mother then. She grabbed a pack and tool kit and headed off to the nearest tube entrance, she did love crawling around in the little places of the ship.

* * *

Ok. Chapter one done! Anyone confused? Well just you wait. Mwahahaha

All right, this is how I see it: Miral sees energy, not just light energy like we do but all kinds of energy. But, here's the catch, she perceives it the same way we do because she's had it all her life but it's a little more complex because there's so much stuff going on.

Be sure to review me and ask any questions you might have. Peace out.

Oh, by the way, I know to like indent paragraphs and stuff like that and that all this extra spacing makes people, or me at least, slightly angry, so I apologize, but I cannot fix the formatting with this program and work within the limits of 


	2. The Meeting of Q

Ready. Set. Aaargghhhhh, here goes Chapter 2, catch it while it's hot!!

* * *

The Meeting of Q 

'It's not every day,' Miral thought, 'that you can burst two gel packs over yourself and keep on trying.' She lifted the third, and soon to be more successful, pack into place and secured it with the phase torch she held in her other hand. Itching the rash that had started on the majority of her skin, she crawled out of the tube behind Lieutenant Vas, who was working at the Ops station. He laughed as he moved out of the way for her to crawl out. She was known as something of a clown to the more senior officers.

She stood up and dusted herself off before focusing on her mother. Most of the officers had turned their heads when they heard the commotion behind the console and her mother was one of them. B'Elanna had an amused smirk across her face as she crossed her arms to look at her slightly dirty daughter. Miral ran to her mother and gave her a great big bear hug. Her mother, although not nearly as affectionate as Miral, returned the hug before turning back into a Captain.

"Miral," she said, "Not while we're on duty."

"What Mum?" she joked, "Are you afraid they'll find out we're related."

Her mother smiled one of her patient, laughing smiles.

"Anyhow, I just thought I would stop by - I was in the area, you know. I'm going now." Miral turned for the turbo lift behind her, but she would not get there.

A large tremor went through the ship sending officers everywhere off their feet. On the lower decks, everyone was asking the question: 'what just happened?' but on the Bridge, they had a perfectly good view. A lime green explosion had appeared directly before them without warning.

"All stop, Ensign." B'Elanna called to the helmsman. Another explosion, red this time, appeared half a kilometer away. "Miral," she called over the sound of the red alert bells, "What is it?"

Miral didn't answer. Her eyes were fastened on a spot in space and she was staring, dumbstruck. Half a moment later, a purple shower of light appeared at the spot where she was looking. She clutched her eyes, she had been looking straight at it when the brilliant flash of energy shined red hot in her mind. Three or four officers around her stooped to help her up, but when she didn't answer their questions, they beamed her directly to sick bay.

She woke up on a sterile bed in sick bay a few minutes later. The Doctor was on the opposite side of the room. His energy signature was much lower than that of any other person on board simply because he was made up of only light energy. Miral was glad they had transferred his program to the Euphedes when they retired Voyager. He walked over to her quickly, anxious not to miss a minute of her recovery. He opened his mouth to speak but said nothing in the time before his program went off line. Feeling fine, Miral left sick bay to help the repair crews to get her friend back.

She turned toward Engineering but thought better of it. She turned the opposite way and took a turbo lift in the direction of the Mess Hall. When she entered the room, all was in a panic. She had trouble seeing, the energy in the room was changing rapidly until she couldn't take it anymore and felt her way, hand over hand, along the counter.

When she looked up again, she saw something she could only describe as god-like. A figure, no bigger than a man, was standing in the middle of the room. What he looked like, she had never seen before. The colours she saw when she looked at him were ones she had never seen before. She could tell there was a lot of energy there, but it did not burn her mind, instead it soothed it. She was staring humbly at the figure as it slowly turned to face her.

"Stand down." called the voice of the security detail that had burst through the door.

The figure in front of Miral, snapped once with his fingers and was gone in a flash of light and energy.

* * *

Yes? No?NO! How dare you say NO? 

Ok. I know, I know: No. I'm comfortable with it. I kind of liked the chapter. Sorry about the fireworks in front of the ship, I didn't know what else to do. And in case you didn't figure it out, the snapping figure of comforting hues was Q (it's actually young Q or Q2 but we'll find that out next chapter).

Questions, comments, queries, reviews, anecdotes, bizarre indian rituals - you know what to do with them. Later.


	3. Mind Control

* * *

Well, I wonder what will happen in this chapter?

Q: I don't know, ask Miral

Miral: What, you're omniscient, you moron.

Q: Oh, right.

* * *

"Miral?" B'Elana called. She had been told about Miral's strange, open-mouthed stare at the mysterious stranger who had disappeared from the Mess Hall, and she had a feeling she knew who the stranger was, or at least _what_ it was. "Miral?" she called again, "Are you here?" She walked into the Hall and past the tables and counter to where a team was scanning the spot where he had left. "Was Miral here?" 

The Ensign she was talking to turned his head and pointed to a table ten metres away.

B'Elana looked at the table where Miral was sitting and sipping tea. She looked slightly shaken but not hurt. She sat down opposite her and looked at her daughters smooth tan skin. "Are you all right?"

Miral looked up at the familiar glow of her mother. She nodded as if to say 'yes'.

"What did you see?"

"He was bright. Very bright." she said, slowly stirring her tea so that the mint leaves floated up to the top. "I'd never seen anything like it before. It was so..." she struggled to find the right word, "heavenly, magical, fantastic. It was amazing."

"Do you know what it was?"

Miral shook her head.

"It was a continuum dweller, I think."

"A 'Q'?" Miral had read and listened to all the old Voyager crew's stories about their adventures with the continuum.

"It could be, we don't know." B'Elanna stood and turned to walk away, but then she turned back and said very quietly, "Be careful, Miral, it's not to be trusted."

"Understood." Miral said as her mother strode back to the team searching the floor.

It was several hours later as Miral walked down the hall to her quarters. She was absentmindedly reading off a pad she carried in her hand as the doors swooshed open in front of her. She looked walked over to the small, glass table in the corner and set the pad down. She looked at her bed and, with a suitable amount of shock, realized the bright orange and purple being was lying on her bed.

"Hello." he said, sitting up. "Aren't you pretty."

Miral was quite taken aback. "Er, yes, thank you." she muttered. "Are you from the continuum?"

"Indeed I am." He snapped his fingers once more and the air in the room glowed red for a minute before condensing into some flower like form. "For you." he said as he walked over and handed her the lilies.

"Um." She had decided it would be best to take him to the Captain. "Could you come with me, please?"

He laughed a hearty laugh. "Certainly, Miral."

She wondered how he knew her name but did not question it, he was coming with her, that was enough.

"Oh, come on." he said, "I'm omniscient, remember? I can see anything I want."

"Your Mother is the captain, no?" They were walking down the corridor toward the nearest turbo lift that could take them all the way to the top. Miral walked in front with a sour expression of duty on her face, Q walked behind her with a clever smirk on his face.

"Yes." answered Miral rather coldly as she pressed open the lift doors.

Q laughed suddenly. "I knew your mother quite well." he laughed again, "B'Elanna Torres, or was it Paris? She was quite good looking, for a half breed."

Miral suddenly took an inkling and punched him in the midriff. She had expected it to hurt him but instead, searing pain jolted along her knuckles.

"Oh, Miral." he chided, "I'm hurt." Then he laughed, "Well, not really. It seems my tremendous physique is no match for your hands, are you all right?"

She laughed vaguely, she was very angry at him: first, for the 'half breed' comment he had made, and second, for the way he had spoken to her as if she were some delirious infant. She wondered, 'Could I? It would certainly put him in his place. He is just energy like anything else.' She set her mind to work on his fluorescing energy but found it difficult, far too difficult for she ended up on the floor as the doors opened onto the Bridge.

* * *

Well, l'aimez-vous? [did you like it] for those 'non-frogs' out there. We're going to find Miral focussing her mind a little more and hating Q a little less in later chapters. R&R. Cheers. 


	4. Mortimer

My, oh my, oh my. So many reviewers, I might cry sniff.

But not now, must write.

* * *

Miral blinked once, then twice, then she realized that she was in Sick Bay. The Doctor came over and attempted to explain to her what happened.

"You collapsed in the TurboLift, they beamed you here right away. Q stayed to see if you were all right and then the Captain took him and questioned him. What were you doing when you collapsed?"

"Nothing, Doc. I just collapsed." It was a lie, but she didn't really want him to know all of her secret abilities.

"Are you sure. Miral, this is very important, there could be something serious with you coming so close to him."

She shook her head, blushing only very slightly.

"Miral, tell me what you were doing." he demanded. He used the voice she hated, the voice that said 'Not only am I your doctor, but I care about you as your Godfather, too.'

"I was trying to hurt him." she said plainly, she needn't explain how.

"What? How, did you hit him? Did he hit you?"

"No, no." she decided to spill all, "All right, Doc. First I tried to punch him, but it just made my hand burn. So, well, I tried to hurt him with my mind."

The Doctor stared at her, confused.

"Well, I can do this thing, with energy, where I can kind of change it, you know? So I tried it on him and I guess that I wasn't strong enough."

"No, Miral, I don't know. In the later twentieth and twenty-first centuries, stories were written about people who could do things with matter, change its nature and the like, but that was just fiction. No one has ever had this kind of ability. I'm going to need to do some tests."

Miral returned to her quarters several hours later extremely frustrated and very tired. Her head throbbed but she didn't want to spend another second his the Doctor. He had performed a veritable battery of tests, recording all of her higher brain functions and making her demonstrate just what exactly she was talking about. Of course, she couldn't perform, which is what made her frustrated, she was tired out from the events earlier in the day.

She made a quick check around her room for the troublesome intruder and climbed into bed. She had nearly dozed off when, 'pop,' something appeared at the end of her bed. It was a small Basset hound pup, hardly larger than her hand. It stumbled blindly toward her and clambered over her. It was this sudden extra weight that startled her out of her near sleep.

Angrily, for having been woken, she set the puppy on the floor and threw her head back onto the pillow. Another 'pop' sounded and she, somewhat paranoid, sprung sitting up in her bed.

"What did you do that for? Little Mortimer was only trying to be friends." came the voice that she had already regarded as a bad omen.

She let out a loud, angry sigh as the lately familiar of Q walked around a corner and down the step into her bedroom.

He carried the puppy and scratched it on the head, "Don't you like him? He's quite fond of you." He dumped the dog into her lap and turned around. "Very nice decoration in here. Oh, what's this?" He picked up her batt'leth from where it hung on her wall and began to swing it around. "A little trinket of Mummy's other family."

"I happen to be Klingon, you moron, and I happen to practise a few of their arts."

"Not just a few, Miral. If I remember correctly, you seem to practise them all, even the ones that contradict each other, on the holodeck. And, was it you who spoke Klingon freely, without any training in the language when you were a child."

"You know what this weapon is, don't you? Something you want to keep hidden, no doubt."

She gritted her teeth and spoke through them, "It's a silly prophecy, leave it alone."

"Oh, of course." he joked, putting the batt'leth back on its hooks.

"You're a jerk." she said, turning her back.

"And you can't help but love me." he teased. He walked back out from where he came.

She settled back down until she heard a loud 'Oooooo' from her living room. She got up quickly and ran to the other room.

"Miral," he said, "my, my, we have not been properly introduced.

His glowing figure was staring straight at her and she suddenly realized why. She may as well have been naked for all she was wearing: tight shorts that went just over her bum and a loose fitting tank top. She quickly regained her composure and stared back at him. "Please," she spoke slowly, as if to someone mentally retarded, "don't come back here."

"Fair enough." he said with the same indifferent air of joyousness. "Mortimer needs to be fed twice daily, puppy formula until he's big enough." He took two bold strides over to her and kissed her fully on the lips, dipping her back smoothly as he did.

She was stunned at first, but then, as the kiss lasted far too long, she picked him up and, using all of her training, flipped him over her shoulder.

He landed with his back to the floor as she wiped her lips with her arm. He began to laugh and snapped his fingers, disappearing in a flash of light.

She shook her head and bent down to pick up the puppy who was jumping up her leg. She carried him to her bed and lay down beside him. She closed her eyes to fall asleep, but sleep did not come to her troubled mind.

* * *

Well, that's all folks. See you next time, or not really since this is only me typing and posting, but you'll see what I post and I'll see all you review, so it's kind of like TV where they're all like 'See you next time on Canada AM with blah blah and blah blah.' or whatever but they don't really see you, unless you're in the studio audience, but you see them, it's kindof weird if you think about it; so, you'll see something of a similar format next time I post and I'll see what kind of reviews you will give me (kindly pretty pretty please) but neither of us will really see each other. I'm going to stop because I've never seen a sentence that went on for six lines (or at least as long as it shows up for you). WFYL (write for you later).

Oh, and I've decided not to label the chapters (mainly 'cause I can't think of any clever ones).


	5. Logos

Well, here goes. I never know what to say here, we all know Q will show up again but what you don't know is that Q will show up (crowd gives a loud "oooooo" sound). But, lately I've been coming up with chapter titles, so I may or may not include them regardless of what I said last posting. (Hey, look, you're seeing my writing but not me, and I'm not seeing you (except for reviews (thanks)), just like I said it would happen) I'm a friggin' genius.

Miral: cough, cough

Q: I may be omniscient, but I have never heard anything like that.

Miral: (discretely behind her hand to Q) because it's not true.

Q: Oh.

* * *

Mortimer was snoring. A loud chirping was coming from the computer speakers telling her it was 03:15 hours. She groaned and rolled over. "Enough." Miral yelled but the computer continued its interruptive call, "Five more minutes." 

The Computer replied in its sing-song voice, "Negative. Time is 03:15."

She groaned once more and flipped the covers off. It was bitterly cold and she jumped about in an effort to get warm again. She had a shift in fifteen minutes. She pulled on track pants, they felt snug and warm on her goose-bumped legs, and a sweater with the words "Old Navy" printed boldly across the front - something from her dad's never ending fetish with the 21st century.

In Engineering, Miral entered into a commotion in full swing. Someone ran past her and feverishly tapped a control panel. She wandered, bewildered into the midst of all.

She could feel his presence before she saw him. He was seated, laughing, atop the banister running around the second level. He was swinging his hands wildly, as if to some bizarre symphony, and snapping his fingers. Things were flying around the room, Miral noted, and people were dodging trying to fix any number of broken and exploding things around the deck.

"Q!" she yelled.

He stopped, grinning at her with pleasure. He jumped down and landed with a gentle 'thud' in front of her. "Well, well." he said, "How's Mortimer this morning?"

"He's a lot better than you're going to be if you don't stop this." she threatened.

He laughed, and continued to laugh, but then stopped short and turned to her. "Make it worth my while." he said.

"What?" she said in disbelief

He snapped his fingers once and she felt a sudden lurching feeling. When she blinked, she opened her eyes to a sight terribly unfamiliar.

"Welcome to Logos, the twelfth moon of a planet called Erketlis." he said, gesturing his arms wide.

She looked around, the stars were very clear over head but she couldn't make a guess at their position. "Where are we?" she asked in wonder as she twirled around with her gaze upwards.

"It a galaxy you haven't discovered yet. It's in something I like to call the Epsilon Quadrant, a region of space accessible only through a small spacial rift, or by Q transportation. It lies underneath the Beta quadrant in case you're interested, but you'll never get back here on your own."

"What?" this she could never have believed in an age, unless she was seeing it with her own eyes.

He snapped his fingers and a wooden park bench appeared behind them. He pulled her down with him as he sat on it. "What I want to know, Madame Paris, is what's going on with you."

"Excuse me?" she said, none altogether polite.

"You're crew is safe by the way, they all think you're fixing another gel pack above the Bridge right now."

"Oh."

"Now, explain how you saw me when I was trying to stay so well hidden."

"Pardon, you weren't hidden, you were sitting on the rail, laughing at us."

"Oh, indeed I was, but I used one of my special 'Q-bilities' to make myself invisible. No one else could see me."

"Well, I'm like no one else." she joked cautiously. "Could you send me home now?"

"I know you're not like any mortal I've ever come across." he turned painstakingly serious for a moment, "That's why you're so fascinating, Miral."

She laughed in his face so that he turned away, hurt. Feeling sorry for the omniscient being seated beside her she explained briefly. "I see energy, not just light but all kinds. I suppose that if you try and hide your appearance, I'm still going to see the rest of you. It's the same with cloaking devices on ships."

"What?" This time, it was Q's turn to stare back in disbelief.

She never had time to explain further because at that moment another loud 'pop' sounded and another Q figure appeared before them.

"Junior," called the voice of his father, "what have I told you about this type of mortal filth."

"Dad!" excalimed the younger Q, "Not now, you're always ruining my fun."

"I'll do more than ruin your 'fun' today, Junior - oh," he started at Miral, who was watching intently from the side, "go home."

She would have replied something to the likes of 'I can't' or 'I would if I could' but she was whisked away far too quickly as he snapped his fingers. She appeared in the crawlspace she recognized above the Bridge with an ion torch in hand. She stared perplexedly for a moment and then remembered what Q had said about fixing a gel pack.

She set to work, but did not have time to get the cover back on when she heard another loud 'pop' next to her.

* * *

I don't really know if Qs 'pop' but I figured it was easier than saying 'a magnificent flash of light which was perceived by Miral's sensitive eyes as blindingly hot.' 

Anyhoo, I just thought I'd announce that I'll take suggestions for Miral and Q's adventures once they get together (probably in the next couple chapters or so), I've got a few ideas but I figure you guys must want to see something happen (please nothing dirty or overly scandalous). If I use them, woohoo for the person who went it, but if not, I'm sorry and might just be waiting because it's such a great idea.

Hope you liked this chapter (I thought I'd put in a little big Q guest appearance just for fun, and because Miral will be able to tease the love of her life about it later). Reviews rock!!! Bye.


	6. Oops!

And now, picking up right where we left off, I give you the following installment of "The Energy Finder":

* * *

The floor she was lying on gave a loud creaking sound and then gave way. She screamed as she fell, amongst the broken bits of what had once been the crawlspace and the decoration above the centre of the Bridge. She landed with a 'thud' and a 'crack' which made her gasp in pain. Miral was lying on her back, she had fallen straight down. She could see people rushing their way toward her, including her mother who stood out of her Captain's chair and started pulling the fallen bulkheads off of her only daughter.  
Miral coughed as she rolled over and used all her muscles to push herself up and struggle out from underneath. She looked to her side and saw the familiar sight of Q doing the same.  
Once they were both standing, the continually outspoken Q stretched out his hand to Captain Torres and spoke freely, "Good day, B'Elanna, or so it was before this I suppose." he chuckled but was the only one in the room who did so. "My father told me that if I enjoyed humans so much, I should just live with you, so I've come to ask if I can?" B'Elanna, along with all the others within range, stared at him blankly, waiting for him to continue. After a moment of awkward silence, wherein they realized Q had finished, B'Elanna assumed the dignified air of a Captain once more. "Q, I'm afraid we don't have room." she spoke in the same half-joking tone he always used, being careful to be polite for she knew better than to cross a member of the continuum.  
"Oh, come now. You have plenty of quarters left, and I don't need them. Can't you give me some menial task, for old times sake?" "No, Q, not today." She turned, weary from her days as Captain, and sat. "You've caused enough damage to the ship already. Go now." The smile vanished from his face and he stared blankly at her for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers and was gone.  
B'Elanna gave the order to move command to Engineering while a clean-up crew fixed the Bridge. Miral went to see the Doctor for the second time in as many days. And Mortimer scratched at the panel underneath the replicator.  
"Hello, Mum." Miral greeted her mother as she walked through the doors into Miral's quarters. They were a mess, and B'Elanna stared about at the uncharacteristic havoc.  
"Miral, what happened in here?" She didn't want to tell her mother that the puppy Q had given her had disappeared and she had been searching frantically through her quarters. "I just can't find something is all." "Oh. Well, can it wait until after dinner." She lifted up the casserole pot she held in her hands. Miral could see it was still blisteringly hot so her mother wore protective gloves.  
"Is that a casserole?" "It most certainly is." "With ham and shrimp?" B'Elanna nodded.  
"Let's eat, then." She pulled out a chair from the little glass table and beckoned for her mother to do the same. It was a tradition with them, to spend at least one night a week together and, if it could be managed, to bring in her dad over the comm. screen to join them. Tonight, however, it was just the two of them, and little Mortimer Miral hoped.  
They were well into the meal when Miral decided to change the subject, only slightly, from their discussion of the day's events. "Why not let Q stay a bit?" "What?" Her mother seemed quite shocked and unnerved by this sudden announcement. "Miral, I warned you not to get close to him." "I know, but –" she faltered, "well, he could fix the ship if he wanted to. And –" she continued while her mother looked ever more skeptical, "well, he took me to a place that was kind of like an alternate universe, I guess, and he could, maybe show us some more hidden places. And he'd be great to have around to check things out to see if their safe, we haven't had the best of luck, you know." She paused as her mother's facial expression told her she was on the verge of agreeing with her. "WE have been short on crewmen lately, Mum." As Miral suspected, this was the clincher and her mother gave in. "All right, but he will be your responsibility, Miral. You're the one who has to keep him out of trouble." "Easier said than done." she said, and then in her own mind added, 'I hope.'

* * *

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! This is getting interesting. Firstly, why did she want Q to come back? Didn't she hate him? Well, my friends, all will be revealed (and if I forget about some little intricacy, feel free to R&R (boy I'm really pushing that aren't I? (It's mainly because I like it))). Well, 'til next time, sweet dreams.


	7. Fixing the Oops

You know, it just occurred to me that I had to change the rating of my story. I hope no one is highly opposed the change. And I wouldn't really worry, I'm not big on overly disgusting explicit stuff (there probably wont be any except a dirty joke or some innuendo), so the rating is probably high but you can never be too careful.

"Hey, looking for this?"

Miral started out of her near slumber. Q was standing conveniently close to the end of her bed, he had a knack for showing up as she fell asleep. She sat up, forgetting his poor timing, she wasn't embarrassed, she had learned to sleep in a full track suit.

He held Mortimer in his arms and plopped down on the foot of the bed. The puppy scampered away, nearly tripping on its long ears, blindly sniffing the sheets.

"Where did you find him?" she asked, joyed to see the small dog once more.

"He crawled in with some of the wiring." Q answered distractedly watching the dog. "Why did you want me to come back?"

He was very solemn, Miral noted, and she began to feel uncomfortable for lack of his jesting. "I don't know." she shrugged.

"You could have not, I would have never come back."

"Let's just say life can get a little boring here." she tried to bring back his normally good humour.

"Not from what I've seen."

"Do you always watch us?" she asked, slightly disgusted, "You're like some Earth-stalker, with binoculars or something." She began to laugh at the thought of the strange minded people her dad had told her about.

"You speak Klingon, yes?"

"Of course I do, idiot. We've discussed this already."

"qamuSHa', jachchoHmeH 'Iwraj penaghtaH."

"You disgust me. Get out!" It was, of course, meant as a compliment by tradition but still rather revolting.

"Miral." said the Chief Engineer as she walked in the next morning for her informal duty shift. "Good you're here, I've got an assignment for you." He handed her a PADD already alive with information and walked away.

She looked at it. 'Oh dear.' she thought. After breaking the ceiling of the Bridge she now had to fix it.

She stepped out of the turbolift, none too excited, to a room empty except for the pile of debris in the middle. 'At least the view is good.' she thought staring at the huge screen in front showing the stars they were traveling through at light speed.

Apparently, she was the only one assigned to this. It was her fault, yes, but did she have to clean it all by herself. Where was Q? This was more his fault than hers. Was he even really a 'he'? She pondered this as she lifted the largest of the debris into a pile and began sorting how they went together.

Soon the 'pop' she had been self-consciously expecting came, and there he stood, simply beaming with energy.

"Miral," he exclaimed, having regained his jovial manner, "Why are you doing all this heavy lifting?"

"I don't know, because you broke it and I have to fix it."

"Well so do I – not bad for my first assignment – but, the way I see it," he laughed being able to contain it no longer, "there's the Miral way" a look of disgust tried to show on his face, "or the Q way!" With that, he snapped his fingers and the decorative ceiling was restored to its original beauty.

"I bet you were an interesting child."

"Oh, indeed I was."

"Huh." she said nonchalantly, she was doing well to keep from laughing, or was it crying, at the ease of the task. "That's not really fair."

"Yes, it is," he admitted, "we'd better go and make sure its secure."

"Q, I'm not getting into that crawlspace with you again." she laughed.

He did not share in her amusement. He said seirously, "I'm not kidding, it might fall."

"Come on, don't joke around. Let's go down and surprise them with how fast we've finished."

"Miral, chances are it will fall back down."

"What?"

"I'm not a full 'Q'."

"What?"

"I can't do all that stuff yet, I don't know how."

"What?"

"Let's go check it."

Miral regretfully resigned her barrage of 'what's and agreed to check his fastenings.

She showed him through the door of the Jeffrey's tube, taking with her the toolbox she originally brought to fix the problem. He was right: he didn't fix it all securely. She took a phase-torch to one section of bulkhead while he watched her.

As she chatted on about holodeck programs she wanted him to try, Q suddenly moved closer to her. He lifted her hair back and lifted his mouth to her cheek. As she turned, realizing what was happening, he bit down, hard.

Miral had turned far enough that his bite did not land on her cheek but just above her lip. She pinned him down and leaned all of her body weight on him. She faltered for a moment, as Q watched amazed at what he thought he saw, but then, regaining her composure, said very coldly and viciously, "**Do not** do_ that_ again."

Q laughed, but she did not let him go. The contempt in her eyes was too much for him, "Ok, Miral, don't worry."

Wow you just never know what'll happen. Well, actually I do, but that's besides the point. (Oh, by the way, when Miral 'faltered' she was beginning 'the fall' in case no one's overly creative brain thought of that)

And I'm still hoping I'll get some suggestions, otherwise this is gonna be really short

translation from North Star Klingon Outpost )I cannot believe I found this dusgusting phrase on the Internet but it means: I love you, [we'll] mate until your blood screams. There's also a word meaning disruptor which literal is 'shake till falls apart tool.' I had a good time researching this, I tells ya.


	8. 

Hey guys, sorry I've been checked out for so long. I spent the weekend away from my house (and away from reasonable Internet access). So, here's the latest installment, enjoy.

Oh, I should tell / warn you that this was inspired by 'Blood Fever', which happens to be the latest episode I've seen. (I can't wait until school starts so I can slow down a bit, lol)

* * *

smack – crash – slash – ow

Miral swung her batt'leth to and fro with the well learned precision of all her years. She sliced-up another faceless warrior. She was on the holodeck, playing a war simulation she had gotten from the extensive library – except she had changed the 'enemies' to have no faces, she couldn't do it otherwise.

As she swung once more, the images faded from in front of her, and she was left staring at the metallic criss-cross walls of the room. "Time has ended." came the voice of the computer. 'Not now.' thought Miral, she was in the middle of releasing some pent-up down-energy.

Grumbling, she headed for the doors. When they swooshed open, she was surprised to see Q standing there. Upon further inspection, there was something on his face – wait – that's a person – wait – that's Annette. "Oh, _gross_!" she stammered, blushing as she did it, before running away down the hall.

Miral whipped her batt'leth across the room. It smashed a flower vase and a porcelain figure of a clown as it careened across the room. Miral was heated, angrily heated. She screamed blatant profanity in multiple languages and lunged around the room.

It was Mortimer who stopped her runaway train act; the puppy now much bigger after three months tried hard to wag his tail while it was clamped, in fear, between his legs.

"It doesn't really bother me." she lied, "He can do whatever he wants, he's got no special commitment to me." She laughed as she said it and as the dog licked her face. "Better clean up, eh?" she said to the dog.

She had returned to her familiar good spirits as she replaced her weapon on its hangers and put the broken figures into the replicator to be regenerated. She ate her barely lonely dinner while absorbing herself in her PADD. It was about the warp coil refittings she would do in the morning, she could have done it easily in less that five minutes, that is, if her brain didn't keep going numb.

When she crawled into the bed that night, she abandoned her regular sweat suit for something a little cooler – that was how she justified it to herself. Q's visits had fast become somewhat of a nightly routine. He would challenge her mind with a new language every night, to see if she could figure it out. Once, he had her quite stumped, for over a day, before she realized it was English spoken backwards with a rich Ukraine accent. She pulled back the covers and made her usual show of wanting to go to sleep, preferrably without a visit from you-know-who – it was just a show, of course.

He didn't come. Miral didn't sleep that night, at first she was excited but that soon turned to anger when she realized where he must have been.

The warp coil refits went poorly, to say the least. Annette ended up in Sick Bay for three days, Miral ended up on suspension for much longer.

Miral sat in her room, confined there while she was off duty without visitors until further notice. It was the second day of her punishment, and she knew quite well that she had deserved it. What had happened was this: Annette had been talking to another Crewman and Miral heard the unforgettable syllable of 'Q', she moved closer and, eavesdropping further, discovered what had happened on that date to the holodeck. She had, what she liked to call, a hot spell, where Klingon blood rushes to the surface and makes you hostile. She pulled Annette to the ground and screamed at her in Klingon. As with all good fights, Miral made it a fair one by pulling the girl to her feet and shouting her challenge at her, although the poor girl could not understand for the Universal Translators were not set to translate Miral's Klingon. As Annette saw the look in Miral's eyes and ran away, Miral pounced like a cat and ripped her to shreds. Miral had gotten off easy, the Doctor had blamed it on a chemical imbalance in her brain and gave her a shot before sending her to bed. Miral could not believe it had happened, or that she had to peel bits of skin and blood from underneath her bitten-down fingernails after. No one had talked to her since.

As she crawled into bed that night a fit overtook her and she lay there, shaking – partly from rage and partly from a growing depression. When the 'pop' sounded, she didn't hear it.

Q came upon her. She was lying face down and positively shaking with sobs. "Miral?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

She looked up at him and he suddenly realized he'd been horribly mistaken, she wasn't crying. "You." she moaned of bitterness and disgust. She whipped herself around and out of bed.

He would have smiled had it not been for the gravity of the situation, she was wearing hardly more than when he had first seen her pyjamas.

"Fuck!" she screamed at him, "Is that what I have to do to you to make you pay any attention to me? You're a [words deleted for serious sensoring reasons] little [ditto]! I can't believe you."

"Miral, come on –" he laughed, in a vain effort to try and lighten up the situation.

"What?"

He felt burning along his face as she stared at him, eyes more tense and focused than they had ever been. "Miral, I –"

She launched herself at him, teeth barred. His reflexes, after half a thousand girls of all species, kicked in and he began to seduce her.

"Wait," he said, pulling her away from him by the wrists, "not like this."

She lunged at him again.

"Miral, this is really hard." he struggled before finally pushing her down on the bed. "Miral! No!" He used all of his power, in every way he knew how, to hold her down. "Miral, I won't do this to you. You mean too much." She stopped fidgeting so he let her go and stood up. "Now, I'm sorry I didn't come back last night or before, but I have other responsibilities other than your lingo lessons. You know I'm a member of the continuum you know, I have to zap off somewhere every now and then." He looked at her, staring blankly at him, and smiled. "And as for what you saw at Holodeck 2 – which I'm guessing is what prompted this – she happens to be the most annoying thing in the world."

Miral laughed, shakily and lightly. "She is, isn't she. That's why I bit her."

"What?"

"Nothing." She looked up at him, bashful for everything she had just done. "Um – do you think, maybe, we could pretend this never happened?"

"Sure." He ruffled her head and turned to walk out of the door. "Wait" he paused in his stride, looking back at her for effect, "what am I doing? Silly me" – snap.


	9. The Mess Hall

So, I just saw Star Trek Nemesis, and oh my gosh was it good. I was the only one awake by the end thought (which is just strange).

* * *

"Hey! We're approaching Earth." Miral bounded into the Mess Hall, deliriously excited about the news. They wouldn't reach there for a full day, but she couldn't wait to see her father.

"What, Miral? You think no one else knows that?"

Miral realized that Q, who had just spoken, was the only person in the room. She bounded over, laughing, nothing could destroy her good mood. He was sitting at a table, reading a PADD and seemingly uninterested in what she was saying. She was thankful he had said nothing since her outburst in her quarters several weeks before, indeed he had done more than she asked and completely reversed the feeling of anxiety that came over her when she saw him.

"Hey, Junior." She called, using the irksome pet name that had been inspired by her brief meeting of his father.

"Don't call me that." he said, looking up at her while taking a sip of coffee.

"Why not?" she joked as she sat opposite of him.

"Ok." he said, "You can call me that if you tell me what's with your eyes."

"What?" She furrowed her brow, partly of indignation and partly of confusion.

"Your eyes, my Father told me something strange about them."

"What did he say?"

"He said they were prodigal."

"He said that?" she laughed, "Well, they are one of a kind."

He looked at her expectantly.

"Ok. I can see sound and heat and particle radiation as well as light energy. Essentially, my brain works at super-high speed and so I can comprehend everything around me. Is that prodigal?" she joked.

"I can see it too."

"What?"

"That's what I see too. Except that I can control it a little more probably."

"How so?"

"Well, every material thing is made of energy vibrating at a fast enough level that it seems to become solid or tangible. Other things are made of energy vibrating at a higher level so that the mortal eye cannot see it. If I focus my mind on a certain frequency, then I just see that energy level. I can't focus on all of them at once though."

"Oh."

"You wanna go to the Holodeck or something? I've got a time slot reserved."

She smiled at him. "The Holodeck's a little fake for me."

"Me too." he laughed. "You wanna go some place real instead?"

"For sure."

"Where?"

"You pick."

"I've got something you'll love: it's a conversion of galaxies and the black holes at the centre are about to swallow each other."

Miral nodded in agreement. "Hey, Q."

"Yes?"

"What do I look like?"

He smiled at her, realizing for the first time that she couldn't see anything, not even her own appearance. "You look beautiful." he told her and then kissed her on the forehead.

* * *

Ok, I know it wasn't very long, but I'm really running out of free time here (and I am soooooo tired). Oh, by the way look, they're bonding R&R.


	10. Black Holes and such

* * *

I was really pleased with the way this chapter turned out, I hope you are too, but you may as well read it anyway to find out.

* * *

"Oh my goodness." Miral exclaimed, "It's amazing."

"Isn't it though?" They were floating in the middle of space watching as the powerful forces of the black holes wreaked havoc on the energy around them.

Miral felt relaxed, despite the lack of oxygen, held closely to Q. He assured her that she would be able to breathe just fine because of some environment tweaking he'd done and so she snuggled into him, as she would have her father, relying on him to keep her safe.

"If you concentrate on the anti-matter radiation in the holes, you'll see they're actually collapsing each other."

"Oh." She tried to focus her mind but found there was so much, she couldn't be sure what she was looking at. "What colour is it?"

"Colour?"

"Yeah, which?"

"I don't know about colour, Miral."

"That's all right, this is absolutely stunning just the same."

"It's kind of making, like, two animals with round heads and thin worm bodies chasing each other. Do you see it?"

"Oh, I do." she laughed. "That is neat." She put her hand on his chest and turned to look at him. "Thank you, Q."

"Anything for you, Miral." he said with the most sincere tone of romance.

She smiled at him.

"I know a lot about Klingon mating rituals." he said. Then he took her head tenderly in his hands and bit her cheek.

Miral blushed and put her hand up to the red spot growing on her left side.

"We are completely alone out here." he said, "I hope that was all right."

She nodded into her chest. Then she laughed, "I don't know much about you Continuum folk."

"Q! What are you doing!" Miral hadn't noticed the angry figure of Q (Q's father) making his way towards them in backstroke fashion.

"Dad!"

"You're not supposed to take people anywhere, you're not ready yet."

Miral looked about, terribly confused by the situation – which seemed to be a recurring occurrence.

"I'm Q, Miral. Pleasure to meet you." announced the older Q whom she had not met yet.

"Wait, you're both Q?"

"Yes." the two said in unison.

"Doesn't that get a little, you know, confusing?"

"Why would it." asked the older of the two.

"He's Q, I'm Q, everyone is Q. We never forget names and we always know who we're talking to." added the younger.

"Oh."

"I'm going to send you home now, Miral."

"All right." she supposed she had become accustomed to rather odd occurrences over the last month. She felt the familiar tug on her body and found herself standing in the middle of a hallway on the Euphedes.

"And you," continued the elder Q hovering in the middle of space with his son, "we're going to have a very long discussion about this."

Hey, look what I did, they're together now. Or are they? Find out in the next chapter, mwahahaha. Oh and Q's not in too much trouble.

And I'm still hoping for some story ideas (although I've got plenty of my own) but I thought if there was anything you'd like to see then I could do it and it would be like we're both reading something new because I wouldn't have thought of your idea. Later.


	11. Homecoming

Well, sorry for leaving you guys hanging all weekend. I had a super time getting up at five in the morning and then horseback riding all day and then going to a party all night. Right not it's like nine in the morning and my eyes are screaming at me so this might be a short chapter.

"Do you think Dad will like to see this?" Miral asked her mother quietly. They were on the Bridge, on the final leg of their journey back to Earth after their two month mission. Miral was at the helm and her mother was standing over her shoulder.

"I'm sure he will." B'Elanna stood up and went back to her Captain's chair.

"Open a channel to Starfleet headquarters." she instructed. The screen flashed a picture of the Starfleet insignia and then opened a link to one of the Lieutenants in charge of the docking station.

"This is Captain Torres of the U.S.S. Euphedes requesting permission to dock."

The Lieutenant smiled at them through the two way screen. "Dock 58, Captain. Welcome home." The screen flashed the insignia once again before revealing the real view outside of the huge docking ports and the ships flying in and out.

"Take us in."

"Aye, Captain." nodded Miral as she set to the difficult task of taking the huge ship into the narrow port.

"Dad. What is the problem?"

"You can't take girls romping through subspace."

"Why not?"

"One, you're not qualified yet."

"So, I can do it, qualify me."

"And you shouldn't have taken her to the Epsilon quadrant, that's sacred."

"Well, yeah. But – "

"There is no but here, son, that area is sacred, no human should be in there, especially not some girl you took a fancy to."

"I didn't just take a fancy to Miral." Q2 shouted. "She means more than that."

"There's a reason why the rift is so small and so well hidden. Do you know what happened to the last outsiders who entered?"

"Dad, settle down, it was just her just that once. No one even knew about it."

"Q, I'm sending you back to that ship. You are not to leave. And you are not to see that girl again."

"What! Why not?!"

"Three girls have died because of your romping already, it's hard to cover up a forth."

"Dad!" Miral ran forward into her favourite hugging arms, those of her now-balding father .

"Miral," he hugged her as tightly as he could, "I can't wait to show you the ships I've been working with. You'll absolutely love them."

She laughed. "Hey, Dad, what do you think of that parking job?" They were still in the hallways of the hangar and could see the ship a few metres away.

"Why?"

"Because I did that."

He put her into a playful headlock and started ruffling her hair. "Well with a father like me, how could you not. It's perfect, Miral."

The two laughed together and tousled each other for a while. "I suppose your Mum will be along soon." Tom finally asked.

"Yeah, she's coming now, but she'll have to spend a couple hours in debriefing. Luckily, since I'm not Starfleet, I don't have to." She laughed again but her father wasn't paying attention to her.

"B'Elanna." he breathed as she came striding toward them. He didn't say anything more but locked her into passionate kiss and held her as close as possible. Miral shook her head and looked away, her parents didn't do well to be separated for so long. She knew she would always be second in her Dad's heart and only hoped to find someone like that for herself, one of these days.

Yah, so the chapter was short and not much happened, but aren't you curious about how Q killed people and what all that cryptic talk with his dad was about. Plus, they're on Earth and we might see some of the other Voyager crew wandering around cough, cough. R&R, thanks.


	12. Visitor

Thanks again for everyone who's been reviewing. For those of you who haven't, tsk tsk (lol). Here's another chapter for you, there's more storyline stuff in here than M/Q.

* * *

"Auntie Kathryn? Auntie, are you here?" Miral walked through the glass doors at the end of the hallway in Starfleet Headquarters looking for her favourite inspiration. "Admiral?" She walked toward the empty desk and looked at the pictures on it.

A very harassed looking Admiral Janeway walked through the doors to her office. She was confused to see someone looking at her pictures and was about to deliver a lengthly lecture before the person turned around. "Miral!"

They both ran and hugged each other.

"Auntie, how have you been?" Miral asked, out of breath from excitement.

"Good, good. Sit down." She motioned to a couch on the far side of the room. "So how have you been?"

"Well, thank you." Miral sat down on the couch and took the cup of coffee that was offered to her. "Are things a little hectic around here, Admiral? You seem frazzled."

The Admiral laughed, "Of course I'm frazzled, there's been some rather strange goings on lately." the elder took a sip of her coffee and looked over the rim mischievously, "It's all very hush-hush of course, Miral, classified level fifteen clearance and whatnot. But I can tell you that the Euphedes is going to be sent out shortly."

"Oh?"

Janeway nodded in response. "And what of your last adventure, Miral? How are your parents?"

"They're fine. They really missed each other, well mom at least. Dad was flying ships?"

"Testing them in New Zealand, have you been out yet?"

"No, we're going tomorrow. I docked today."

"Did you really?"

"Yes, Dad was fairly impressed. He asked me to take up a few ships while I'm down there."

"I've seen some of them, you'll love them."

"Did you hear we ran into Q."

"No, not really. Which one?"

"Oh goodness, all of them. The old one and the young one both."

"You mean Q and Q?" The two laughed at the irony of it. "There's more than just those two, but you mean the young one and his father, right?"

"Yeah." laughed Miral, "The young one's been hanging around for a while, I haven't' seen too much of his dad."

"Just be careful, will you, Miral? I know from experience that they're a rather strange lot."

"Indeed, Auntie."

The Admiral watched closely as she took another sip of coffee. "Are you planning on going to the Academy soon."

"You know I can't."

"Why not? They would understand."

"Well, if I can get this other deal sorted out there wont be any need."

"I don't think it will work, Miral, I'm sorry to say."

"Well, I can't go to the Academy."

"Miral, there's no reason not to."

"My eyes, Kathryn."

"I know about your eyes, Miral, there's nothing stopping you."

"And what about the other stuff, do you think they'd like that."

"Well, you would just have to not do any of that."

"I can barely control it some days, it would just happen and then that would be it."

"Miral, come on."

"No. You don't know what this is like, Auntie. I still remember when the Doctor stuck all those needles in my eyes."

"Okay, Miral. Don't go."

"Grandad?" Miral walked through another set of glass doors in a separate hallway on a separate floor from where she had just been.

"Miral!" The old Admiral behind the desk came forward and hugged his granddaughter. "Sit, sit, sit." he beckoned "Coffee?"

"Tea if you mind."

"Computer, one tea, mint." he ordered the computer. He smiled as he added the mint, knowing full well it was her favourite.

"So – " she began, but he cut her off.

"I haven't gotten it yet, Miral. This type of thing isn't easy, it takes time."

"You've been working on it for a year."

"I know, I'll keep trying. Now, drink your tea and we'll talk about something more uplifting."

She smiled mischievously looking into her tea. "Well, grandad, I met a boy ..."

"Tuvok? Tuvok are you here?" Miral had taken a trip to Vulcan to see her dear old friend but this was not a fun visit she had planned.

"Greetings, Miral." He stepped out wearing his traditional robes. "You have come short announced."

"I know, we were supposed to be here a while but we got another mission starting soon. I apologize."

"It is acceptable."

"I need another lesson." Tuvok nodded. "I want to control it more and make it stronger."

"I do not believe that is wise, but I too wish to continue our previous discussion."

"You want to learn to control it too."

"Indeed."

"Very well."

The two were sitting at a table with a basket of fruit and a cup of water. Miral picked up a piece of fruit and held it over an extra cup beside her. She stared at it intently for a while. It turned into the shape of a cat before turning into a liquid and dropping into the cup. She shook her head and grumbled and took another fruit.

Tuvok also took a piece of fruit and stared at it intently. It melted slightly and he continued staring at it.

Miral looked up and started lauging. "Tuvok, you already did that part. Focus on the whole thing."

"It is difficult." he answered, his concentration now broken, "I do not see what you see."

"You have to focus on the entire thing and fully appreciate everything you can see before you cna see more. That's what I have understood from writings on the thing. I'll describe it to you." She plucked the warped fruit from his hands and started waving her finger around it. "Do you see the energy coming from it, if you look more closely, you see the energy is coming from the vibration of particles within, and if you look even closer, you see that there is nothing really there at all just energy from the vibration."

"I see, young Miral. I believe you do not require any teaching from me, or better yet, that I can offer you none. However, I would appreciate if you continued to teach me."

"Of course."

"I will continue to try to understand what you see."

"I'll leave you now, but I hope to be back soon." She gave the fruit back to him and took herself to the door.

* * *

Well, I'll try to update soon but with school and such it may be a little less frequent than before. I tried to just kind of wrap up some things and explain things, we'll see Q again next chapter.


	13. The mission

Sorry to have so completely disappeared for a while (but I did warn you chapters would be less frequent come September). Well it turns out I've had this one for a while all saved up in case a week went by and I didn't have any update time so I could just throw it out there but I haven't even had the time to click it on. So here it is and thanks for being patient with me.

* * *

"I can't believe it's been so short." Miral complained to her parents one night at dinner.

"It's not been short." commented her father, with a slight gleam of mischief in his eyes, "I can only stand a few hours with both of you let alone a few days of shore leave."

B'Elanna laughed, "You'll have to spend a few more days with us all the same, flyboy."

"Oh?" said Miral, "I thought we were being briefed tomorrow."

"Indeed, your father is coming with us."

"Really?!" Miral jumped up and hugged her father's head. "This is wonderful."

"I can't believe it's been an hour."

"Mum's got a lot to learn, I guess."

"I don't think she'd let them teach her anything for an hour."

"I don't suppose you remember how to fly anything as old as this, eh Dad?" They were on the Bridge of the Euphedes, comparatively old to what Tom was test flying in New Zealand. Miral was seated over the pilot's console and Tom eyed the control panel with envy.

"Are you sure I can't take it out for a test drive? I'll be back before your mother's done."

"_You're_ a passenger, you can't access any of the control panels."

"So are you."

"Oh. Right."

The doors behind them opened and a fairly flustered looking Captain Torres walked through the door. The Lieutenant to the right called 'Captain on the deck' and they all stood. She sat them back down with a nod of her head.

"Take us out." she instructed, taking her chair. Tom took the bench-like seat to her side and they began the launching process from the docking satellite.

Miral and Tom were sitting in the corner of the Captain's ready room, laughing about some unfortunate soul they managed to make fun of for no reason. A rather harassed looking B'Elanna walked through the doors carrying an armful of PADDs. The scowl disappeared from her face for a split second upon the sight of her two favourite people but returned when a PADD slid off the top of the pile onto the floor.

She let out a low grumble before explaining her stresses. "Do you know where they're sending us? Back to the Beta Quadrant because the Granada Empire needs an ambassador before they'll join Starfleet. And a shipment of triterium is needed at a Balactoid sector which is right beside so they figured, 'let's kill two birds with one stone' and now we're out here." She grumbled again.

"What? Aunt Kathy said we would be doing something serious." replied Miral.

"Yes, well. Apparently this isn't it." she said sarcastically.

"Well," said Tom good-naturedly, "I have people to meet, so I'll leave you two lovely ladies to discuss what adventures you're going to show me on the way." He stood up, brushed Miral's head and left through the doors.

"I have – places – to be too." said Miral, following her father out the door.

"Where are you going?" asked B'Elanna, flustered by the amount of work that she alone owuld have to do.

"Holodeck."

"I thought you didn't like the holodeck."

Miral shrugged as the doors shut behind her. Beneath her nonchalant exterior, she was bubbling with nervousness: she had her first date with Q in less that a minute.

* * *

Sorry the chapter's so short, and Q wasn't in it _again_. I'm terrible, I know. But I hope to update really soon, and then the fun begins.


	14. 

Okay, so now it's getting a little fluffy and everything seems kind of unimportant, I know. Just try to think of it as a little dancing bears interlude cause it's nearing it's end, I can feel it. I just happen to be one of those people who needs to fully explain all the characters before just racing through story. No worries, mate.

* * *

"Now, I know you don't like the Holodeck too much, but just humour me."

"I'm here, aren't I, Q?" replied Miral, although she wished he'd take his hands off of her eyes.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

He took his hands off of her eyes. "Do you like it?"

She laughed at the sight of the winter carnival in full-holographic-swing.

"Sorry it had to be the Holodeck and not the real thing. You would have enjoyed the real Brunalli light festival a lot more, but my father, er- altered, my powers. I did my best to make it look real, but there's only so much you can do with light energy."

"It's brilliant."

"Come on, lets go for a luge."

"All right."

He laughed and flashed his terrific smile before taking her hand and running through the crowd.

A mug of hot chocolate warmed Miral's cold hands while she watched the ice skaters on the pond nearby. Q had shown her everything and more at the carnival and she had to admit, that she had really fallen for him. He was walking back to the little table for two when it happened: the holographic figures flashed out of existence and a desperate voice sang out over the internal speakers. "All hands to battle stations, red alert. All hands to...."

The comm badge on her chest chirped and the captain's voice half-screamed "Senior officer's to the Bridge." With little or no thought, Miral and Q ran to the Jeffrey's tube hatch at the far end and crawled in. Straight up, to the right, straight up again, left, down, right, up and up again and they would be there.

With a cough and a sputter, the two crawled out next to one of the science stations. With a single glance at the rippling floor, Miral knew what was wrong: they were being pulled through an energetic anomaly and the ship couldn't pull out, it was near structural collapse as the security lieutenant informed them all. Panic was evident over everyone's face as they tried to feign calmness.

Ensign Saka diverted as much power as he could to structural integrity and to the thrusters, the Captain yelled for more, the Ensign yelled back and tapped his fingers to take it from life support, Miral held her breath and Q ran to the Pilot's panel.

Everyone froze as Q tapped the engines forward and pushed them through the anomaly.

"Where are we?"

"Q space." he answered.

* * *

Bah ba Baaaaah...


	15. Q space

I can't believe this: Honestly, this is the first like half-hour I've had to myself in two or three weeks (I can't even remember). Anyhow, this may and or may not be terribly confusing. So feel free to ask questions or point out blatant errors or anything else, heck just reviewing in general is fantastic.

* * *

"What do you mean 'Q space'?"

"Yes, Captain. This is the sacred quadrant, where the Q live."

"Miral? Are you all right?"

Miral was staring out the front window, her mouth absent-mindedly parting at the middle and her eyes un-blinking. Her mother walked over and patted her on the shoulder, in an attempt to remove her from her stupor. She jerked away, blinked once, but never turned her eyes.

"She's seeing more than you are, Captain." explained Q, from the back.

"What does that mean?"

"You and I both know there's more than you can see in the universe."

"Let's hope so." said the Captain, staring out across the black abyss. "Ship's status, Saka?"

"Everything appears to be at full strength, Captain." said the mystified ensign.

"It's not." said Q as he jumped up to the control panel. He hit a few buttons, "Try again."

Saka ran another scan. "Shields: 0; weapons: 0; life support: minimal; plasma reserves are completely depleted and nothing else is worth mentioning because it's not there."

"Do we have impulse engines?"

"Not much." he replied, "Maybe enough for a few thousand kilometers but not any more."

"I see." The Captain had her teeth clenched in desperate defiance. "Anyone have an idea?"

No one answered.

"Q?" she asked, knowing he was the only one who might have the smallest chance of saving them.

"If I were you captain, I wouldn't do anything." He answered very mysteriously.

"What's going on?"

He shook his head as if to say 'no'. Now he too was staring out the window, but he was looking for something.

"What's out there?" the Captain continued to question. "Is Miral all right? What's going on."

Q squinted, he was looking at Miral. His face was drawn tightly. Suddenly and without explanation, he lunged at her. She fell at once. Everyone on the deck rushed over with phasers drawn, had Q gone mad in this quadrant. Miral struggled to breathe as she lay on the floor, Q over her holding her down.

Miral was shocked, she couldn't breathe and her head swam wildly. What had happened? Why did Q push her over? Why had he taken her away from that beautiful thing she was watching? Why was he so selfish? She hated him! She lunged at him, with the intent to kill him.

"Help me." yelled Q. He knew this would happen. Miral was being violent. Three others pushed down on Miral's shoulders but her adrenaline was pumping and they had more difficulty than they expected. She struggled underneath the weight of five full grown men before succumbing.

Why?!! Miral's mind was racing and illogical. Q was the problem and now these men were a problem. She focused her mind on him, attempting to destroy him at the sub-atomic level. She let out a terrific roar and pushed the men aside.

People on the Bridge screamed as Q stumbled backwards in pain. What was happening to his face? Then he realized it was Miral, although he didn't know how she was doing it. She was standing now, staring directly at him with the most menacing look imaginable on her face. He had to do something, now. He rushed at her, covering her eyes with his hand and pushed her backwards. Blindly, he pushed her against a bulkhead, hard. She hit with an audible 'oof' from her lungs and stood for a moment. Everyone on the Bridge stood silently, hearts racing, Q searched her face for signs of what she would do next. Slowly, her back slid down the post and she landed in a sitting position with her knees drawn close.

Q tentatively took his hand off of her eyes. They were squeezed shut. He didn't know what to think until he saw the slightest quiver of a hiccough go through her body. Slowly a single tear slid down her face. "Miral?" he said softly, then touched her face and called her name again. She jerked her head at his touch, her eyes flickered open for a second to see him watching her, and then hugged him. He smiled, he knew the hug didn't mean much and that she was just scared, but he was glad that she did it.

"She's okay." he announced, still gazing at her. He picked her up and headed for the holodeck. "She just needs a little bit of rest now."

* * *

Yes, well, I told you it would be confusing but I think it's pretty cool. Well writen, no, but neat, yes. WYL (maybe)


	16. The Waiting Game

Good morning, everyone. I've got another chapter for you (Yay!!). Thanks again to everyone who's been reviewing.

* * *

"Good morning." Despite Miral's efforts to be cheery as she walked onto the Bridge, she couldn't overcome the pounding headache or nausea.

"Oh," said her mother, obviously worried, "good morning. How are you today?"

"I don't feel great." she admitted, clutching her stomach. "Is Q here?"

"No, I haven't seen him today. Do you need to sit down?"

"No, thanks." Miral answered as she walked back onto the turbolift.

Where was that darned omniscient being of hers? "Q!" she screamed into the walls. She was satisfied to hear a pop and see him coming around the corner. The familiar figure excited her so that she ran into his arms and he spun her around, laughing. He kissed her very briefly, their first kiss she hadn't balked away from. She flashed a smile as she rested her head against his shoulder. "We need to talk about what's going on."

"What? About us, Miral? If it wasn't all right to kiss you just now, I'm sorry." He was confused, it seemed like she had enjoyed seeing him.

"No." she said, "About this 'quadrant', if it is a quadrant."

"Oh." he said looking over her head into space. "Come on." He took her by the hand and led her away.

"What did you see?" The two were crouched between some storage barrels in the cargo bay. It was eerily quiet and Q's voice echoed around the room.

"I don't know." Miral answered, "It was ... well, it ... was amazing. It was like you all over."

He laughed. "You see what I can see, right? So that's just energy, only more. Different kinds of energy, different dimensions, different anomalies. It's the same as in the Alpha Quadrant, only more."

"I don't get it." she laughed.

"I didn't think you would." he countered. "Are you okay? I know we roughhoused you a lot yesterday."

"I wondered what the bruising was from."

He smiled at her. "It's either from me checking you, the six guys trying to hold you down that you overpowered or it's from me slamming you against a bulkhead, what does it look like?"

She laughed again. "Why don't you tell me." she taunted.

"I might." he laughed as he launched himself forward and kissed her. When he finally released her, not too long after, he laughed again resting his hands on her knees. "You kissed me back that time, Miral Paris, that's not supposed to happen." He watched her as she smiled coyly and blushed. "You're one amazing person, you know that."

"Yeah."

"Just think, you pushed six guys off of you when you wanted to kill me."

"Sorry about that, by the way."

"Miral, you looked at me and my face started to hurt, like it was melting. What was that all about?"

"Oh." she started, "Umm... that was ... well, I can ... um.... What was that?" The ship jolted underneath them.

Q stood up and ran out the door immediately as Miral followed. They ran to the turbolift and sped towards the Bridge.

When they got out, the Captain was overseeing the helmsman move the ship forward inch by inch.

"What are you doing?" yelled Q in dismay. "They'll come for us."

"What?" asked the confused Captain.

"The Gomi, they'll know we're here. I told you not to move the ship."

"Q what's going on." asked Miral quietly.

"The Gomi, the people of this quadrant, they're unruly – and very hostile." he turned to the captain, "Halt the ship."

The Captain nodded at the lieutenant to stop the ship in it's tracks. "Now what?"

"Now we wait." answered Q as he looked out the front window. Everyone on the Bridge followed his example, although they could not have seen what he was looking for.


	17. The Gobi

Ok, sorry for the wait (again cough, cough) I know it's terrible – it's like when you keep wanting them to make new Voyager episodes but you know the series is over and all you get is reruns where you remember the entire plot within like two minutes of setting down, although not exactly 'like' because here's a new installment and I'm not finished with the 'series' yet.

Anyhow, artemis-huntress reviewed and asked that the chapters be longer, and I must admit that I was flattered. Unfortunately, as much as I would love to throw out some thousand-word-ers, I really don't have that kind of time (as you can tell by the way I always have to start out with an apology) as so ... you can guess that it won't happen. Maybe if this drags out until February, I might have a few minutes to myself back and I can catch up on all this, but otherwise please accept my humble apologies.

(And ... I'm trying to make things easier to understand more specifically who's saying what as per suggestion but you wouldn't want the word said or commented or retorted every line, so if two people are talking, just assume that they go back and forth.)

They were all sitting on the Bridge, staring at the black void in front of them. Well, Miral and Q were, the others had resorted to other, more engaging activities. B'Elanna was reading over some schematics, Ensign Saka was perplexidly going over his sensor readings, Tom was playing with a paddle and ball and many of the others were talking or doing likewise.

Q was pointing out a unique spacial anomaly to Miral for the umpteenth time that no one else could see when B'Elanna finally got fed up. She rubbed her hand over her head as if to suppress a headache before standing up. "There's no point to this, let's do something."

"We can't do anything." replied Q, "All we can do is hope the Q find us first." He sounded bored as this was not the first time he had explained this to everyone around him

"I'm not waiting here any longer, I'll be in my ready room."

"So what are we looking for exactly?" asked a crewman sitting off to the left. He had been talking with another crewman and they were obviously mocking the situation. Now, he thought it might be worthwhile to point out the apparent futility of sitting still, watching for something in a black void, if for nothing else than a laugh.

"Spacial anomalies beyond your grasp." Q was undoubtedly fed up. They had been adrift for four hours, and he was the only reason they weren't trying to get out. No one understood why, although the captain had seemed to graciously admit he knew much more about it than she did, and they were all tired and cranky, and it was his fault.

"Can't you get us out of here, Q" asked Tom quietly, for he was one of the few on board who even knew about the legend of the Q and had been puzzled as to why the young one did not just 'snap' his fingers.

"No, I can't. Otherwise I would have." Q admitted, although he couldn't hide the frustration in his voice.

"Umm, Q" Miral inquired.

"What!"

"What's that." She pointed out the viewscreen into the black abyss.

"What's what?"

"That." She emphasized her gesture out the window toward the highly energetic form that had suddenly appeared just ahead of them.

"Oh no."

Red alert lights flashed through the ship, although no one really understood why. Q had called immediate action and Miral had authorized it (although she shouldn't have used her mother's authorization code so freely she knew the situation warranted it). B'Elanna stood one the Bridge, indignant that an alert was raised, which she didn't authorize, over what seemed to be nothing.

She was in the middle of a speech designed to both calm the crew members and punish Miral when it happened. There was a thunderous crack and the sky seemed to split before them. The vessel emerged, the one Miral had spotted that gave rise to the red alert. The ship fired on them, only twice, but shields and weapons dropped to zero.

Tactical teams rushed to the spots where the vessel had clamped onto, and through, the hull. They were being boarded.

The Gomi, as Q called them, were ghostly white and moved with a similarly comparable grace. Their limbs were largely extended compared to the bipeds on board, and the bone structure was plainly seen under their taut skin where flowing robes didn't cover them.

They spoke to them, in a way that resounded through the entire ship, and although Miral was a master of languages, this garbled system of sounds was indeterminable.

Q translated: "'You have entered where you are not wanted, into the sacred lands. You will be held in this place which you have so blasphemed by your presence until you are rightly punished.'"

"What does that mean?" asked Miral.

"It means we're here forever." answered Q, grimly looking at the doors that would open to their impending fate.

Through the ship, a battle was being waged, a losing battle for the crew. Never once did Q shift his eyes from the doors until they opened, revealing ten of the revolting enemy. The officers on the Bridge fired phasers at them but to no avail. Q's gaze fixated on them as he slowly sunk to his knees in the cross-fire.

When it was determined that weapons did no good on the creatures, who stood unfaxed by the phaser fire. The physical battle began, and while Miral was well trained in tactical combat, her last memories were of kick boxing a Gobi and being restrained by two of his comrades.

Was this a little longer? I tried. Anyhow, I'll try for next week but I'm not making any official promises. Keep reviewing, I really appreciate it.


	18. The Prison

I don't know how long it's been, but here's the next chapter. (I hope no one's just given up). The good news is I'm nearly through the next chapter too. And wouldn't you know it, I finally get a chapter and I can't upload it.

* * *

It was bitterly cold, made worse by the fact that every muscle stung and the face was so swollen she could do little more than squint. She peered out across the open room. Despite it's sheer size, more than four times the football fields her dad had shown her on Earth, people were crowded into corners. She had been lying on the floor, when she had woken up, across the room from most of the groups, and sat up bleary-eyed and sore. Miral didn't recognize any of her crew around her, the group to the far left was Klingon, there was another group of Vulcans and one of humans but many she couldn't recognize.

There was an odd creaking sound behind her, the sound a sheet of plastic will make when it is disturbed. She turned to see someone fly out of a chute directly behind her. She couldn't have been happier to see Crewman Anglais, a little beaten up but more terrified than anything. She hugged him as tightly as she could, if for nothing else than to see that he was real.

The chute rattled again and most of the crew piled out in a giant heap. Most were bruised or even bloody, some were unconscious like she had been, but they managed to sort themselves out. Most everyone was wounded but the badly wounded were set up in a makeshift sickbay on the floor next to the chute. All the others were congregated, talking to two or three friends, trying to decide what to do.

The best suggestion was an escape attempt, back through the chute. As the tactical team prepared to embark, the group of Vulcans approached.

"It is illogical that you attempt what it is that it seems you will attempt." announced their leader. "In previous circumstances, one hundred percent of attempts have failed, there is nothing to suggest that this will be any more successful." He spoke strangely and Miral suddenly realized that only the few Vulcan crew members understood; he was speaking Vulcan. Why weren't the universal translators working? And why was it so darned cold in whatever place this was?

She looked over at her mother. She began to explain in English, "He said 'we wouldn't get out through the chute."

"Oh." she was hugely baffled but determined to keep her role as Captain, "We'll try anyhow. There's no harm in it, right boys?" She turned to look at the tactical team, now ready for their mission. They stared back in bewilderment.

Miral was despaired, they were all different species; no one would understand anyone else. Linguistic training was not a requirement at the Academy, not since the invention of the universal translator. "How did you talk to each other to organize all this if you can't understand each other?"

"Well," began a human in thick Russian-influenced English, "I could not hear, so I asket soom-one and zey told me vat she said zey told me in Russian."

"So you're saying everyone translated for everyone else. Yes?"

"Yah."

"So, you'll be all right? You know she told you to go?"

"Yah." he nodded and turned around to his team and the first one ducked into the opening.

"I need to lie down." said B'Elanna as she gave a little laugh, which was all one could do in this situation, but she stopped once she realized no one around her understood.

The Vulcans had retreated back to their corner. The other groups were eyeing them suspiciously but they had had no further contact. It had not been long since the team had headed up, bracing themselves along the tube. Then the rattling of the chute started again and everyone turned to look. They could see it moving closer until a jumble of men fell out.

Miral gasped and ran to them – in particular, the one sitting rather confusedly on top.

"Q?!" she said, reaching a hand to help him up. "What's going on?"

He stumbled to his feet. The escape crew who he had pushed down was slowly untangling themselves. He stared at her blankly. It was then she realized that the walls were more energetic than even him.

"What is this place?" Miral asked.

Q was exhausted and he relied on her grip to hold him up. "The domain." he breathed. Then his knees gave way and he was forced to half-fall half-sit on the floor.

Now was not the time for questioning, but Miral was too deep in the mystery to care for Q. "The what?" He rolled his head as muscle control failed. "Q! Come on, now is not the time."

She had to step back as he slowly rolled over and spread his arms out in front of him. Others, she didn't register who, took her place beside him and looked after him. For the first time, she saw the unearthly wounds along his wrists and on his head.

* * *

Three Day Weekend!! Which means I should be able to get some writing done. So expect a bunch more soon, and if I don't you have my full permission to beat me (well not really, but feel free to verbally pummel me). 


	19. This is bad

What did I tell you, look at this, two at one time. Enjoy. And thanks to those of you who haven't given up on me yet.

Q was conscious again when Miral returned. He sat on a make-shift stool made of a large pipe that had fallen. Someone had found him a blanket and something to eat, although no one knew what it was. His wounds were still open, but he seemed to be all right.

Miral had been to see the complex, a large and bare room filled with thousands of different species. She had fallen into conversation with some of the other groups. She learned that food was dropped from different openings in wall, although not on a constant basis. She also learned everyone had a similar experience in being captured, being pulled into an uncharted region and very soon were boarded and taken here. They also told her that of all the species that came to this place, none had ever left.

The captain was questioning Q in a small group of senior officers. It seemed he had just recently woken up and so Miral was there when the questioning began.

"Q, do you know what this place is?"

Q didn't answer, just closed his eyes in despair. After a moment he answered, very slowly, in English, "We entered the sacred realm. They've put us in the Gobi prison."

"Who do we talk to about getting out of here."

"We're in here, we're not getting out."

"There must be a director or something of the prison, we'll just explain it was an accident."

"Where do you think I've been, Captain?"

She didn't answer.

"I've been trying to negotiate with them. Captain, these are not normal diplomatic people in any way."

"There must be some way –" the Captian started before Q cut her off with increasing impatience.

"Captain, I'm as frightened as you, perhaps more considering the state I'm in, but what I say is true: escape is not possible."

"That's what everyone I've talked to has said." supplied Miral. "It sounds like there will be some kind of game tomorrow for which we will need to rest. I suggest that's what we all do."

"Miral." B'Elanna seemed surprised to see her but excited nonetheless. "I presume your mission was successful?"

"We have allies – it seems everyone is allied here against our captors. But there is no purpose. It seems we will not see the Gobi and every conceivable method of escape has been tried. I truly do believe we should rest."

"I refuse to believe –"

"Mom!"

B'Elanna fell silent and hung her head. "All right, we'll go over our options in the morning."

As she disappeared through the masses, Miral went to sit beside Q. "Are you okay?"

"You tell me."

"What?"

"I don't know how bad these wounds are. How do they look?"

"I don't know, you know I can't see stuff like that."

"No, no, the aura, is it fading?"

Miral took a moment to contemplate. "Yes."

"This is bad." Q hung his head in his hands before looking out across the room in no particular direction. "I may not have long. Do you understand?"

"What? What did they do to you." For the first time since waking alone in the room did Miral fully understand the seriousness of their situation. Sure, they had been in tight spots before, but if the Gobi could do that to a Q, what would they do to them.

"I can't explain, it wouldn't make any sense."

"I'll take your word, shall I?"

The two exchanged small smiles.

"Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Unless you know how to psianami."

"I can only do what I can spell."

"We should get some sleep. I've heard about this game, and it's not a fun one."

When Miral woke the next morning, Q was sitting on the pipe and her father knelt before him.

Her father talked in a low voice. "Isn't there anything you can do."

"I've told you, there's nothing any of us can do."

"Come on Q, I'm appealing to you to help us all, to help Miral. I know you don't want her to live and die like this."

"No, I don't – "

"So, you see we're not that different."

"No one can get us out of here, short of a miracle. And I don't believe in miracles, so you see."

"Can't you just snap your fingers, and get us out of here?"

"Tom, this is my own domain. I can affect your domain but not my own."

"So, that's it, your father can't get us out?"

"Look, the Gobi are a very strong people. We can't manipulate anything of theirs and certainly not this complex, it's too well constructed."

Tom sighed and his face dropped, showing all the years on it. "Thanks, Q."

"I'm sorry, Tom."

Well, there it is. Now, not a lot happens, I know, but it was kind of interesting, yes? The next one is spinning around my head, so I'll go to and work on it.


	20. This is desperation

A buzzer sounded somewhere, long and low and horribly untuned. Miral looked up. A voice came out of a loudspeaker somewhere, in a language she'd heard once before. Her hopes fell.

"Run!!" yelled Q, his voice frantic.

Miral jumped off the floor and ran around the others shouting the command in all the different languages she knew. People got up but looked around bewildered.

Without warning, something not unlike a phaser cannon fired from the wall. It was not aimed particularly at them but it was close and did much more to start the crew members running than the frantic shouting.

Everyone started running in the same direction. The other inmates, more familiar with the system, were already running.

The voice came over the loudspeaker again and ended with a sinister laugh. Miral knew what it meant but Q translated for the rest, "Faster, faster. Come on, those cannons did this to me, imagine what they will do to you."

The voice came on again. "Other way, turn around!" yelled Q, "Faster."

The voice shouted 'faster' over and over again. They had to reverse direction again and again. The phase cannons shot at numerous heels but hurt no one. This time, Miral suspected. Finally, it was over. Everyone was gasping for air, including the Klingon warriors.

Miral tried to uphold good spirits and joke with some of those around her, but she was given a discouraging look. She knew why, they had done this every day since they arrived and it never got easier.

"We've got to do something." breathed the Captain. She was bent over double, as were most of the crew after their frantic run.

"I think that's obvious." muttered a crewman close by.

"Well, what do you suppose we do?" shouted B'Elanna at the crewman.

"Okay, we're all frustrated." interrupted the calm voice of Tom.

"Shut it, Flyboy."

Miral and Q sat off in a corner.

"There must be something; just because no one has gotten out before doesn't mean we can't."

"You're a bold thinker, Miral, but this place is too great a challenge for even you."

"It's all just energy." she laughed, "Energy can be broken down and taken apart."

"Yes, but you need to find something to take it apart with."

"What about us?"

"I won't be much help, not here, not like this." Q sighed heavily. Miral noticed he wasn't getting better since before.

"Do you need anything?" she asked.

"No." he answered, "But I will lie down for a while, conserve some of the energy I've got left."

"I'll leave you alone then." Miral said sweetly as she tried to smile.

She started to walk away but Q reached out and grabbed her arm. She spun around and felt the life drain out of her as she looked at Q's face.

"Miral. You know this is serious, I may not have long left – and that's a serious problem for an eternal being. But I need you to know what you meant to me, how much more you mean than anyone else I've every known. Before I met you, I had no idea what kind of emotion love was. I've grown since I met you. I need you to know that you're not just some other girl like I used to know. I just – I just had to tell you before..."

"Q." she bit her lip, "We'll be out of here before any of that." She patted his hand and walked away, trying to hide the small tear rolling down her cheek.

Miral sat away from everyone else, where they couldn't see her. There had to be a way out. What she had said was true: it was only energy that needed to be broken down. She realized what she had to do.

B'Elanna was glad to see her daughter come up to her.

"Mom."

B'Elanna's gladness fell away as she heard he daughter's delicate suffering tone.

"Mum, I have to."

"Have to what, hon?"

"I have to get us out." she paused as her mother froze, "I can, I have to."

A/N Now, I don't normally get excited about cliffies, since all chapters should have them, but .... CLIFFIE, la la la. We are very very near the end, I can feel it. I was thinking about writing a sequel to this, good idea / bad idea ? Review please!!!


	21. 

Keep on reading and reviewing, especially reading because I'm almost done.

* * *

"Miral, you can't."

"Why not?" Miral shouted back at her mother, "It will save us."

"It's ridiculous."

"It's the only way."

"Miral, we don't even know if you can."

"I can try, Mum."

"And what if it goes wrong, or if there's something we didn't take into account, something we didn't know about. What if these Gobi catch you, what would they do?"

"I understand the risks, it's always risky, but sometimes we have to take risks."

"Accepted risks – " B'Elanna began.

"This is an accepted risk." Shouted Miral.

Neither noticed when Ensign Saka stopped beside them.

"What is an accepted risk?" he asked very quietly.

Miral stared at her mother, as if to defy an answer. B'Elanna stared back. "I have a way to get out." Miral said.

"Really?" He sounded surprised, "Would you care to share it with your senior tactical officer?"

The three discussed for nearly three hours. The first, Miral had explained her special ability to control energy and it's benefits. The second, she had explained how it would help them to escape. For most of the third, she had explained her ability once again....

"... I just concentrate on the particles and there's a kind of .. connection.. so they know what I want them to do." Miral peered hopefully into the confused Ensign's face, "Look, it doesn't matter if you understand how it works or not, but I can do it and I plan to use it to get us out."

"And once we're out, how will we escape the subspace pocket?" Saka asked.

"We will deal with than when we come to it. At the very least, we can use my abilities to a great extent, I'm sure." said Miral.

"And this works, does it, Captain?" Saka asked.

"Yes... It has in the past, on a much smaller scale." he Captain answered.

"And you believe it will work?" Saka asked Miral.

"Yes." she affirmed, although sounding much more confident than she felt.

"Very well, I believe it is worth an attempt." Saka nodded.

"We should go as soon as possible." the Captain said, "To avoid suspicion."

"I concur. Is there anything we can do to help prepare, Miral." said Saka.

"No, but I believe we should tell all the other prisoners."

"Agreed."

Miral spoke to most of the factions herself, her command of languages an obvious asset. The time for her 'performance' was almost here and she was beginning to have serious doubts. She doubted if she could do such a large scale thing with so much energy, far more complicated than anything else she had encountered. She doubted whether she could get Q out in time to save him; she didn't fully understand what was wrong with him but could see it was very bad. Q had lost his energetic brilliance and it kept decreasing through the day; Miral doubted if he could handle another running drill or being hit by one of those cannons.

Miral stood in front of a wall, to the others gathered around her she was staring at a solid, solemn brick wall. She was concentrating, watching the particles, looking for a way in. They had a mind of their own, they were far more complex than anything before. Someone called out behind her, something about hurrying up in this futile exercise. Her concentration faltered for a moment. She snapped her attention back so quickly, it took her a minute to realize that she had entered the energy domain. The feeling was extraordinary and she let out a loud gasp as the shock forced all her muscles to contract.

She set to work, she didn't know what to expect – on the other side or from the particles themselves. They had a mind of their own, as she already suspected, they seemd to be contemplating her directions. She had to move more particles than she ever had before, and how many more there were, she didn't know. It was hard, she knew some had given in. Someone behind her shouted again, in awe of the deformation in the wall. She wouldn't let it bother her, she had to focus and then .... Something snapped, in her mind or elsewhere. She felt what the particles felt, had their infinite wisdom of the universe, felt everything else around her as the particles would.

She took a step forward and, waving her hand, the particles flowed like water into the shape of a giant roman arch – nothing was too complex now and she added pillars and curves. She was in a hall, outside of the cell. Something was letting out a low monotonous bell, soldiers were running. She turned and saw guards, several of them, running toward her. She waved her arms forward and a clear forcefield of particles erected itself, like a tunnel, around her.

She didn't know if those behind her were following, she could only assume they were. She opened an archway in front of her again. She didn't know where thye were, something was missing: oxygen. As soon as she had realized it, the gas materialized around them. She erected a spherical forcefield around the group. She knew the group was there, amazingly, she could sense them, she could almost see them.

They were running, along a bridge to nowhere she thought into existence. Where was – she knew something was coming, something very important, crucial to their survival – there it was. A loud snap sounded and a flash of brilliant white light. Miral's heightened consciousness was cut off, or tested – she couldn't tell. Her mind screamed in pain, that was it.


	22. 

Ensign Saka looked around. He was on the Bridge of the Euphedes. The crew and nearly a thousand others were crowded here and elsewhere on the ship, the internal sensors told him. He stepped down from behind the Security console, everyone was dazed from their ordeal. He knew why: they had witnessed a miracle, they had been running on a bridge that materialized in front of them as they went and disappeared behind them, breathing in the black void of space, and suddenly they were back here.

Everyone was in a state of shock, most staring at nothing or marveling at the sight of their own hands; no one had noticed Miral lying on the floor.

"Medic! Medic!" Saka called as he saw her.

This brought some people around them back into the present. Three men stepped forward, one had a tri-corder. It was not a medical tri-corder but it gave him enough readings to know that she was in synaptic shock. They rushed her to Sick Bay.

Miral was beamed into the medical surgery bed where the Doctor was waiting for her. He had trouble moving around, since his Bay was crowded with nearly forty people of varying species, most humbled by their recent experience but wounded one way or another from their ordeal. The only other unconscious person on a bed was Q2.

Miral was immediately integrated into the life support system. The Doctor didn't want to operate but he might have to, if he didn't work quickly. He tried to ask a few people for help, but they weren't responding. He didn't know what had happened, the last thing he knew before being forced into cybernetic oblivion, was the ship was being hurdled into a subspace rift and the ships resources were being drained.

He needed someone, there was a Klingon. The Doctor grabbed him by the arms and shock once, forcefully, and called help her in his best Klingon.

The Klingon turned his head very slowly and, seeing Miral, nodded his head. He mumbled something, "She saved us."

The Doctor was moving quickly, he had a cordical stimulator. "Twenty millijoules." he called to the Klingon. One zap shook through her body but the Doctor couldn't detect any change. He didn't want to increase the voltage, he knew how sensitive her physiology was. "Again." he called. Another zap and then ... a beep, symbolizing the return of normal brain activity. The Doctor, although not being human, let out a sigh of relief.

The beeping increased in frequency, to the point where it was a constant ringing. Miral's eyes shot open as she sat bolt upright. The Doctor had never encountered anything like this in all of his database. In a kind of panic, he shot a hypospray of sedative into her neck and laid her back down. Her synaptic function slowed. The Doctor went back to his other patients.

B'Elanna and Tom stood quietly over the Sick Bay bed where their daughter lay sedated. They were worried, remembering all the times her inexpicable ability to understand and control energy had scared them before, but the Doctor had said she would be all right. They waited while he performed a few last scans and finally gave her the hypospray to wake up.

She slowly began to move and blink her eyes open, once, then twice, then they stayed open. She squinted, trying to focus on something.

"Who are you?" she said, after a moment.

"What?" said Tom, more out of shock and indignation than the wheezing tone she used.

"Dad?" she said.

She was very different. He nodded in response.

"I can't see." she explained, "Or rather, I can, I think."

"I don't understand." said B'Elanna tenatively.

"It looks like everyone described it." she said, sitting up and pausing a moment to look around, "It's still, nothing's moving. One thing is one colour. It's boring."

"I guess it must be." Tom forced out a laugh. "How are you feeling, Miral?"

"My body aches and it feels like my head is on fire."

"A lot of people are talking."

"Oh, yeah?"

"What you did was amazing, I just want you to be prepared for some of the reactions."

"It was amazing."

"Really?" Tom smiled at his little girl, "How so?"

"Those particles, they're so much more than anything in this space. They have a kind of consciousness of their own. It was like a realm made of Q."

"The Q's realm, to be precise." said a loud sarcastic voice from behind. "You see," continued the basso voice of the elder Q they were familiar with, "you had the unfortunate luck to drop into the sacred quadrant, home of the Q and the Gobi. Oh, you were lucky, I managed to pull you out, all of you and there were quite a few, as this lovely young lady," he pinched Miral's cheek, "nearly collapsed and killed you all." He let out a boistrous authoritative laugh. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must look in on someone you can't save. But then again, we just don't know anymore what you can and what you can't do." He walked over to Q lying on the bed and, after a moment's contemplation, turned back to Miral and said "We'll be seeing you soon." and snapped his fingers. The two Q were gone.


	23. Fin Depart

Now, I realize that the last time I posted anything at all, I probably had something written at the top like, I've nearly go the next one done, stay tuned, blah blah blah. And now that I've brought it up, you're reliving all that anger and frustration you got after looking, week after week, but not finding that I updated. And now you're thinking, 'no, I didn't check, this was just a chance encounter.' Well don't tell me that. I have four words for you: Four exams, four days. Plus all that culminating stuff that they make you do. You would not believe High School these days, and if you're not there yet, join the circus, and if you're struggling through it like me, I've started a suppot/anarchist group.

Anyhow, this is it. (Well there may be a juicy sequel but don't hold your breath.) And there's a little epilogue. Thanks for sticking around. And when you're done, don't just sit there, review, let me know what you thought sucked/didn't make sense/was ridiculous/was **_great_** (!!). great is underlined.

* * *

Miral was in bed for the next several days. Her eyesight returned to normal but she would never forget what she saw of her parents, and of Q. She hadn't seen many crew members but she knew there were mixed opinions; now she understood what her father had meant when he said people were 'talking'. Too restless for sleep, she was aimlessly turning a figurine over in her hands.

It was then that it happened, a loud pop and a Q was standing in front of her. It was one she did not know, although equally, if not more, brilliant, and he told her it was time for her to go with him. He snapped his fingers and she had that feeling of being pushed through space that told her she was being transported somewhere.

She landed in a large counsel room. It was long and narrow, like a hallway. She stood at one end while a panel of robed figures sat at a high table at the far end.

"Miral Paris," one on the end shouted, "You have been summoned here today regarding events exactly one Earth week ago in the Gobi prison of the sacred quadrant. Are you aware of the crimes you have committed?"

"N..no." she stammered. It was unlike her to be afraid but the tone of the woman speaking was far too unhuman to avoid fear.

"You did knowingly connect with Particles without a permit? You did knowingly create a matter disturbance for your own benefit? You did knowingly plot to escape the holding tank of the Gobi?"

"I did do it, to save one of your own." Miral said, guessing at the meaning.

"Miral Paris," called a voice, much deeper and more familiar than the last, "I, for one, thank you for your efforts. Your 'abilities' have caused something of an uproar in the continuum, as you will understand."

"Your efforts in saving the younger Q will not be forgotten in your impending trial." interrupted the woman.

"Trial?" said Miral.

"Yes, trial." affirmed the elder Q, "It seems some are rather confused, they can't quite seem to believe it's happened yet." he emphasized the 'it'.

"What's happened yet?" interrupted Miral.

The elder Q did not notice her interruption and continued on, "Oh, certainly, I was one to judge when my son first became attached to you, but now I can see he made a very wise decision. But my Gobian colleague here does not hold the same reverence for you as I do. You see, they are a very strict species, they keep up the traditions of old, and keep most of the universe in order."

Miral suddenly realized that she was indeed looking at a jury made of Q and others like the Q but definitely different: the Gobi.

They were murmuring, the beings in the benches. Miral couldn't tell what they were saying. Her head began to hurt, it had done that lately, when she concentrated for too long.

"Miral." said a voice from behind, "Would you like to make a visit?"

Before she had contemplated it, Miral was standing in the middle of a sick bay. It was not as the ship's sick bay was, but far more cluttered and high-tech than any other place she had seen. A spindly arm pointed from beside her head to a figure lying in bed across the room: Q.

He was pale, but better than the last time Miral had seen him. As she walked over, he rose just a little to see who it was, then sat bolt upright.

He wouldn't look at her. He turned his head as she walked closer to him.

She was confused, after all they had just been through, all that she'd been through, the last person she expected to act like this was Q.

"Q?" she whispered tentatively.

"I..." he began to answer, but then faltered for a moment, "I just, I can't believe you did that."

"I did what I needed to, to save your life. Don't be angry with me."

"I can be angry if I want."

"Q, the last person I need to hate me right now is you. I don't even understand why."

"Because, Miral, you can connect with Particles, you can control energy. Everything's made of energy, I'm made of energy."

"So?"

"You can control me." he snarled, looking up at her.

"But" So this was it, this is what made him drive a steak through her heart. "I would never...."

"Maybe you did, I don't know. Maybe you will."

"And you never used your abilities on me? How could you think I would do that?"

"You expect me to believe that?"

"You should."

"Well, I can't. I just can't, okay."

"No, that's not okay, Q." She couldn't look at him either now. "Do you want to know? I can show you what it feels like. So you know for sure."

"Go ahead, Miral, turn me into your pet again. I'll do anything for you when you make me."

"I will." She spun around, her eyes glaring ice. She grabbed him by the collar and turned his head to look into his eyes, into the very nature of his existence.

"Do it."

He was sincere.

"Are you sure?"

"I have to know."

"I don't know what it will do to you."

He nodded for her to continue

She let go of him. Taking a step back, she closed her eyes. She wasn't even sure if it was possible, but she had to try.

What should she do? Turn him into a solid statue, a dog? Disappear him altogether? No, just mess him up a little bit: move it but put it all back together.

She concentrated. There were the particles, now to move them. She could shift him a foot to the left. The feet first, the particles flowed like a river, unraveling Q from the bottom up. She could see particle vibrations from his mouth, he was screaming. 'Make sure you put him together exactly.' she thought. The delicate part, the brain. It was going, smoothly, it was working.

"Miral!" a voice shouted from far away. The footsteps were coming closer but she was going further away.

"I know." Voices were talking quietly above her.

"She was to be told."

"But how?"

"I'll tell her."

"I'll stay, if you don't mind."

"All right. How do you feel?"

"Normal."

"That's incredible, that's she took you apart, from your molecular-energetic core."

"I still can't believe it. It hurt then, but I could see her doing it."

"Fascinating. It's a shame she has to go through this."

"It's not that bad, is it?"

"It'll be hard, but.... She's awake."

"Miral?"

The sound of her name caused her to stir. She vaguely remembered that they had been talking about her. It seemed like an age until her eyelids stopped fluttering and she could see the people sitting over her as she lay in a hospital bed.

"Are you all right?" the elder asked.

She nodded meekly as she tried to sit up. Two firm sets of hands helped her.

"I'm sorry." said the younger.

"I told you." she said. She tried to give a laugh, but her throat was too dry. "My head hurts."

"You suffered a minor aneurism in your cerebellum." he said, "Had you been anywhere else, you might have died."

"Oh."

"But you should be all right now. Our doctors have managed to fix some of the problems your human physiology has caused in the past." The older Q, the father of the boy, said.

"What?"

"Miral, there is something very important we need to discuss." He sighed, more serious now than he had ever been in his existence. "Do you recall what you did nearly an Earth-week ago, from the Gobi prison?"

"I do." she said softly.

"You are aware that there is no one else from your Universe who could have done that. Some have mastered small objects, moved them a few inches, bent them. But you performed something of a miracle. Even I could not have done that. The Gobi certainly couldn't."

She wasn't sure where this was going; she thought she was in trouble, but this was nothing but praise.

"Are you aware of a prophecy made prior to your birth?"

"The Klingon saviour."

"Yes, the Kuvah Mah." He paused a moment leaving the room entirely quiet. "It was not a false prophecy. I believe you know this more than anyone."

She slowly nodded, hardly believing what she was hearing.

"Your abilities, not just Particle melding, but language, combat, social discipline, analytical and Engineering skills. These are all things which are not merely good-luck virtues, you were meant to have these things."

She looked up at him for the first time since he began telling her this.

"What you do with this information is up to you, you understand." He took her hand as though to give her courage. "Many prophecies have been answered but not fulfilled, but this is what you were born to fulfill. I can't do anything more to help you, whatever you decide to do. I can pardon you from your so-called crime and I can send you back to your ship. If you would like, I can help you refine your abilities to the best of my knowledge, but this is all."

"I understand."


	24. Exodus

She wandered aimlessly along the black and grey corridors of the Euphedes. It all seemed so small and primitive now. She had spent a few days among the Q peoples, learning about them, interacting with them, delighting in their company.

She had been warned not to use her abilities again, the brain aneurism she had suffered was a direct effect of its overuse, and she was told that it would probably occur again if she used it too much.

Q had not left her side while she was there, and, although he was humbly subdued, he taught her a great deal about the continuum and about herself. He apologized continually, until she choose to return to the ship, without him.

Uncertain what else to do, she had chosen to return to the ship, to go back to her old life until she figured a new one out. She hadn't told anyone what she had been told, or what she was planning to do.

She knew she had to do it, as she walked along the corridor to the mess hall, she would go crazy here. She had conquered the ship, it's inner-workings, it's outer-workings, it's ultimate energetic-basic workings, even the people were meek, not offering much challenge anymore. Her intuition told her what would happen, what people were thinking, how she could get them to think what she wanted them to think. It was all very unsatisfying.

She rounded a corner and Q met her. Hugging briefly, he took her arm and led her through the double sliding doors. The first thing that caught her eye, catching her off guard for a minute, was, on bright yellow paper, in thick blue ink, "Good Luck, Miral."


End file.
